Hong Kong extreme makeover has glass wall bathroom as flat’s focal point
Tadao Ando-inspired 470 sq ft open-plan apartment in Anglers’ Bay suits open-minded Gimmy Fong, with its walls replaced by sliding panels, open sea views and floor-to-ceiling windows
Tadao Ando is a rock star among architects. Google his name and you’ll see photos of him planting trees with U2 frontman Bono, walking the red carpet with designer Stella McCartney and chatting with fashion legend Giorgio Armani. You will also find thousands of images of the buildings that made him so famous. Bold, minimalist structures made from enormous slabs of concrete, Ando’s houses, churches and museums have earned him a large and devoted fan base.
Among them is Hongkonger Gimmy Fong, who turned to Ando for inspiration in the redesign of her 470 sq ft apartment in Anglers’ Bay, Tsing Lung Tau.
“In our first meeting, her first sentence was, ‘I like Tadao Ando,’” interior designer Max Lam Tsz-hong says, with a laugh.
Fong says: “I wanted to bring Ando’s ideas into my home. That’s all I wanted.”
The challenge of adapting the Japanese architect’s ideas wasn’t lost on Lam, founder of Max Lam Designs.
“Ando’s architecture is big and spacious,” he says. “We really had to study to see what could be taken from big architecture into a small living area.”
